Swansea to overcome handicap to inflict next away defeat on Hull

It is hard to believe that anyone taking charge of Swansea or Hull on Championship Manager 03/04, the final game of the series before the separation of developer Sports Interactive and publisher Eidos, would have been expecting this pair to have both climbed from the fourth tier to the Premier League in the next decade.

However, that’s exactly what has happened after Hull’s promotion from the Premier League last season and both clubs have made reasonable starts to the present campaign.

Hull are down in 13th, but they have played seven of the current top eight in the division on the road. Therefore, a trip to 11th-placed Swansea does technically represent their easiest road trip of the campaign so far.

Swansea are no great shakes on their own patch either, winning just two of their seven at the Liberty so far this season and two of their last 12 at home across the last two top-flight campaigns.

This may indicate that Hull’s odds offer the most value at 4/1 in the match betting offerings, with Swansea the 8/11 favourites with their home advantage and the draw priced at 11/4.

But, even though the fixtures have been against Hull on the road, they have lost six of their seven league away games and four of these have been by at least two goals.

When Swansea do manage to win at home, they tend to do so in a fairly comfortable fashion. Looking at their last seven home victories in the Premier League, six have been by at least a two-goal margin, including their latest 3-0 triumph over Newcastle.

Therefore, Swansea’s odds of 2/1 to overcome a one-goal handicap and still beat Hull may be the best bet on offer at the Liberty.

Meanwhile, those wanting to get involved in the correct score betting could seemingly do far worse than invest a little in the 3-1 Swansea victory at 16/1.

Who will score the Swansea goals though is tough to predict, largely because of the inconclusiveness of whether Michu and Wilfried Bony are fit to return to action.

Both have been training ahead of the match and are expected to at least make Michael Laudrup’s bench. But, there is a feeling that either Jonjo Shelvey or Alejandro Pozuelo will start as a makeshift striker.